Our ancient ancestors had large mouths because they chewed harder foods than us and gave their mouths better work-outs. There was lots of room for every tooth. Modern Man ( you ) has less room in his mouth because he chews soft processed foods. With a smaller mouth, there is a chance a tooth might not get into the mouth. Dentists refer to a tooth that can not get into the mouth as an impacted tooth or unerrupted tooth.

          An impacted tooth is a tooth that does not have enough room to erupt into the mouth. In its attempt to push into the mouth, an impacted tooth can spin out of place and become very badly positioned, even upside down. An impacted tooth can also push on the teeth in front of it and create a malocclusion.

          An unerupted tooth is a tooth that has not come up into its correct position. An adult tooth remains in a child's mouth until there is enough space so that it is normal for child to have an unerupted tooth. However, it is abnormal for an adult to have an unerupted tooth.

          A baby tooth is a child's small tooth. As a child become older and the child's mouth becomes larger, each baby tooth falls out and is replaced by a larger adult tooth. If every tooth in a child's small mouth were as large as an adult tooth, there would not be enough room for each tooth. So nature gradually replaces each tooth as more room becomes available for each adult tooth.

          Each adult tooth erupts into the mouth at a different time. The wisdom tooth is the last tooth to come into the mouth. Unfortunately, there is almost always not enough room for the wisdom tooth to properly come into place.

          The development of each tooth is important and the development of a tooth can be effected by nutritional changes, diseases, and stresses placed on the body. The color of a tooth can be affected by the antibiotics when a child takes them. Taking antibiotics while a tooth is developing can change the color of a tooth. If a tooth looks grey it could be from erythromycin or if the tooth looks yellow, it could be from tetracycline.

          A bleached tooth is a tooth that has artificially whitened. There are many ways to whiten a tooth, however, in most cases, professional whitening is always the best choice.

          Each tooth has a root that holds the tooth in the jaw bone. If a tooth loses its bone support it will become loose and eventually fall out. That is what happens when a tooth has periodontal disease.

          Periodontal disease is the most common reason that a tooth becomes loose. Each tooth depends on its supporting bone to hold it firmly in the jaw. A tooth has to be firmly in the jaw to be able to do its job so when a tooth becomes loose, there is a big problem.

          When a tooth gets knocked out of the mouth, it's called an avulsed tooth. This tooth could have been a loose tooth or it could have just been hit so hard that it knocked out. An avulsed tooth must be put back into it's place as soon as possible. The longer you wait to reinsert an avulsed tooth, the worse the change this tooth has of surviving.

          Every tooth in your mouth has a specific purpose. A tooth either rips, scissors, tears, grinds or performs a combination of these actions. Each tooth has a different anatomy ( shape ) because each tooth functions differently. Every tooth is extremely important. Keeping every tooth for a lifetime allows better chewing function and better digestion. This can result in a longer and healthier life. A tooth can belong to one of three tooth types.

          A molar tooth grinds food and has a large flat surface. The molar tooth has a large root so that the tooth does not move when you chew. A molar tooth is located in the back of the mouth and we have a total of twelve molar teeth.

           An incisor tooth is located in the front of the mouth. The incisor tooth scissors food into small pieces so it can be more easily ground up by a molar tooth in the back of the mouth. Your smile is primarily made up of incisor teeth.

          The bicuspid tooth has an intermediate shape somewhere between an incisor tooth and a molar tooth. It's called a bi-cuspid tooth because the bicuspid tooth usually has two cusps. The cusp of a tooth is shaped like a small hill.

          The white enamel that covers the top of each tooth is the hardest natural biological material. Long after the skin and organs have rooted away and long after bones have dissolved, a tooth can still remain.

                                                                                                               Fossil tooth

          A fossil tooth is what archeologists dig up thousands of years after an animal has died. An archeologist can examine a tooth and tell you a great deal about what this animal ate, how big the animal was, and a lot of other information based on his knowledge of this type of tooth.

          You can identify an animal with only one tooth.

          A dog tooth is usually sharp and thin because dogs naturally eat meat. They are called carnivores. The sharpness of the dog's tooth reflects the tearing and ripping action needed to eat meat.

         A horse is a vegetarian. Vegetables and grass must be completely chewed before they can be digested and a horse's tooth reflects this. A horse's back tooth is generally flat, as is a sheep's tooth or a cow tooth.

         There are a lot of myths and legends about teeth.

          Although no one has actually seen the Tooth Fairy and there are no photographs documenting the Tooth Fairy's existence, there is evidence that children can often place a tooth under their pillows before going to bed and the next morning in the place of the tooth there is usually cash money. Why the Tooth Fairy wants every tooth placed under a pillow and where the tooth fairy gets her money is not known.

          What is the value of one tooth? Nature has decided that each tooth is very important. A tooth first forms from the same embryonic genetic material that the human brain is formed from, neural crest ectoderm. Years ago if someone did not have a tooth in his mouth he would most certainly die. Scientists are learning that each tooth has a value and contributes to the health of its owner. A tooth should never be needlessly removed.

          For more dental information visit our web site. If you are interested in dental care and would like to find out what our dentists can do for you, please consider scheduling a consultation by calling  404-874-7428.